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JFK Feral-Cat Roundup Elicits Yowls Of Protest

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Oct 26, 2007 8:30 am US/Eastern

JFK Feral-Cat Roundup Elicits Yowls Of Protest

Remember When Rats Invaded A NYC KFC?

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ― Animal advocates are baring their claws over a crackdown on wild cats living at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Dozens of felines are camping out at the busy airfield feeding on rats. Some sympathetic airport workers also feed them.

A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, says the cats create a safety hazard. The spokesman, Pasquale DiFulco, says the cats' food can attract birds, which can fly in and foul up airplane engines.

He says 50 to 75 cats in a cargo area are to be trapped and turned over to animal authorities in the coming days. He says none have been killed.

But the director of the NYC Feral Cat Initiative, Valerie Sicignano, fears they will be if they linger unadopted in animal shelters. She and other cat activists would rather see the cats neutered and then either put up for adoption or returned to the airport.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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